Hand Made Axe

This instructable will show you how to forge a basic drift eye axe.

You will need :

*something to heat your metal , anything that can bring the metal up to an orange glow.

*something to hit your metal on, any piece of metal that is large and dense ( old sledge heads, a piece of railroad track)

*a 25mmx25mmx125mm mild steel square stock and a bar you can weld onto it as a handle while heating. 300mmx10mm round bar works fine.

*a cross peen hammer additional hammers may prove useful

*a welder

*a chisel and various files

*a grinder

Clean off any dirt or oil from the metal and weld the bar to the stock as shown in the picture.

It is important to get a good penetrating weld, otherwise it will just break off.

Start to heat the metal.

Once the metal is hot start about 25mm from the bar end, using the chisel start making a line that runs down the center of the stock for about 30mm. Repeat this proses from opposing sides until the eye goes all the way through, constantly checking that the line does not veer to one side or the other. Make sure to keep the chisel cool, other wise when it heats up too much it will get stuck and you'll never get it out. Knock your chisel all the way through the metal in order to open tho hole further.

Use your hammer to draw out the part right after the hole, don't draw out the tip yet.

Once the middle has been drawn out, use the cross peen part of your hammer to follow the lines depicted in the second photo. starting from the top line and work down.

After you reach a thickness of about 4mm at the edge, smooth out the metal ,remove any hammer marks with light taps from a flat hammer.

Mark the outline of the blade you want, using a grinder shape the edge and cut off the bar, use files to put in the beveled edge.

Make a handle from a hard wood I used eucalyptus wood, the handle is very simple to see how to make so I will not be giving instructions on that.

Attach the head to the handle using a wedge and sharpen your brand new axe.

Using the rod I made a holster for the axe. i made a ring around a piece of tube with a 50mm diameter, and also a hook which will hook it to your belt.

waste not, want not!